


Intermission

by ChloShow



Category: Better Call Saul (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-05-31 23:32:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6492112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChloShow/pseuds/ChloShow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>-a short break between the parts of a performance-</p>
            </blockquote>





	Intermission

Howard starts his day with the whir of an espresso machine, sitting down at his breakfast nook with an omelet, the paper, and 2 hours before he needs to be in for work. The fresh hydrangea blooms in front of him obscure the arid landscape out his window. He looks forward to his upcoming early hours drumming up business connections on the artificially green golf course more as an escape from his desiccated, sienna-pigmented reality than for any pleasure from the sport itself.

While rubbing elbows with prospective employees or contacts, he wears the same grin, convincing you (or maybe not convincing you) that he’s totally invested in what you’re selling him. As he drives back to the office or back home, he drops the smile, and his eyes wander to bars out of reflex more than desire. The part of his heart that craves intimacy has been walled up for close to a quarter century.

His marriage is a business contract: two professionals coexisting in the same house. Different rooms, different goals, different lives.

Neither wanted children. Howard’s wife welcomed their union with the enthusiasm of negotiating a desperately necessary merger. Her parents had badgered her constantly about starting a family, so she married Howard. George Hamlin encouraged their marriage, said it would “make the family look good.”

They put in the time with their in-laws, attending holiday parties, birthdays, and anniversaries. Relatives used to joke, “Howard couldn’t be any more perfect if you’d hired him!”

As he sets his fork to the side, draining the dregs of his green, vitamin-enhanced smoothie, a stray sunray passes through the crystal vase holding his lavender hydrangeas. The light splits in the faceted glass, spreading a small rainbow across his placemat. Howard stalls and considers this disruption in his morning routine. Unprompted, he smiles to himself.

His father may be gone, but the choices made on his behalf solidified the course of Howard’s life long ago.


End file.
